Why I Ride- Tim McGrail
“I ride for freedom because if capitalism causes people to be exploited, then morality causes me to push back.”
For me, the grocery store is a big source of anxiety. For any given pantry staple, I’m faced with a half dozen brand choices that have no obvious differentiating features other than logo. I’m trying to balance my desire to be a good consumer with my desire to spend as little money and time as possible on this errand. I often find myself picking the company with the branding that looks the most eco-friendly, or the least obnoxious. But outside of the grocery store, it’s clear that the branding was just invented by an ad-agency for a company whose main concern is still profits. In light of this, it's not surprising to me that people throw up their hands when faced with these decisions. If there is “no ethical consumption under capitalism” then why put any effort into making the least harmful choice when every option still contributes to an unsustainable global food system? And more so, if workers will continue to be exploited (with the most vulnerable among them being trafficked) by the ruling class regardless of where I’m shopping, then where do I start?
Camping and biking are two activities which I believe have the ability to (at least temporarily) cure me of my consumerist malaise. Both, at their simplest, have a lower barrier to entry than many equipment retailers will have you believe. You don’t need a $10,000 carbon fiber racing bike to have a good time on two wheels. The steel behemoth that’s buried in your garage, or waiting on craigslist, will provide every bit as much thrill. Likewise, you don’t need a full closet full of ultralight gear in order to have a good time sleeping outside. I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with getting joy from buying new gear, because I certainly also experience that. In fact, Cole pointed out in an earlier blog post that you can practice conscientiousness when buying bike gear by purchasing it from like minded members of the community. Ultimately, pursuing the simplest form of these two hobbies can provide you with a perspective that is easy to lose in the overtly materialist and capitalist culture that we live in. When your daily to-do list only includes the basic functions necessary for life and also some pedaling, typical day-to-day stress and problems tend to fade away.
You can imagine that, given the opportunity to take my two favorite activities for temporarily escaping capitalism and turn them into actions that make a difference, however small it may feel, in the fight against some of the issues caused by capitalist exploitation, I excitedly planned to take some time off from sitting at my desk chair and spend some time sitting astride a bike saddle. As mentioned in my grocery store example, I’m skeptical about just how much power I have to affect these insurmountable issues, but I believe that the true power of the ride is not just the money raised or the connections made over three weeks, but in calling more people into the fight against human trafficking. Naresh Kumar has shown the power that bike trips have to connect with people in the fight against human trafficking with his Freedom Seat ride from Chennai, India to Hamburg, Germany (https://www.freedomseat.org/)
The Ride for Freedom will traverse 1,000 miles around northern New England, and will connect the dots between the Freedom Cafe in Durham, and other organizations in the area with similar missions. Hopefully, any attention we can create around our trip will translate into attention towards the work that is being done to stop and prevent human trafficking. Systemic problems require collective solutions. An important step towards a collective solution is to build up power among all of us with similar goals, and I think that the Ride for Freedom has the ability to contribute to building that power.
Here’s a link to donate and make RFF financially possible. After $4500, all additional donations go towards the Freedom Café’s educational program: Click Here to Donate
-Tim